Flowers and Castles (A Destiel Howl's Moving Castle AU)
by pasmoicava
Summary: A hat shop owner(Castiel) is cursed by a witch after being mistaken for his brother who had rudely insulted her. After fleeing his home, he finds himself aboard a flying castle along with a powerful wizard(Dean), his apprentice(Sam), and a fire demon(Crowley). Castiel endures sass, kidnapping, copious amounts of rubbish, and quite a lot of yelling. (Based off book and movie)


**CHAPTER 1**

**In Which Gabriel is an O****utlandish Dick**

The day was sunny in the town of Market Chipping and the streets were busy with the start of the summer festival. The workers in the hat shop chattered amongst them selves as they hurriedly finished their work so that they could join the festivities.  
"I hope there's roasted nuts again this year!"  
"There are always roasted nuts!"  
"Look! You can see that floating castle from the window."  
"Oh, I don't feel safe going out any more."  
"Don't worry, he only eats the hearts of pretty girls."  
They laughed and packed their things away and returned a few stray hats back to the stands.

"Are you coming, Castiel?"  
Castiel looked up from his work and smiled at his employee from the small office. "You go on, Archie. I have some work I need to finish here." He looked down at the hat in his hands. He didn't like this new material much but he supposed it was adequate.  
Archie smiled softly and shook his head. "Hard at work as always. Sure you wont come celebrate with us?"  
"Thank you, but my work is very important to me."  
"Suit yourself. I'll see you tomorrow." And with that he went to join the others who had been waiting for him at the door.

Once the workers had gone all the noises of excitement had went with them, leaving Castiel to himself. He had inherited the shop from his father while his brother, Gabriel, was sent to seek his fortune as a bakers apprentice. Since Castiel's inheritance, business started to become even more popular. Castiel didn't know exactly why this was, but even he could not deny that the quality of the hats had improved, particularly those he had a hand in making. Though, he insisted that he created the hats exactly as his father had.

As he worked, he spoke quietly to the hat. No particular reason other than hats were often easier to talk to than people.  
"You're going to attract a lot of attention what with all these brilliant feathers." He said to the hat as he finish adding the last golden feather. "I bet you'll be the center of attention at any event you're worn to." He went on like this, adding decorations and speaking kind words to each hat, until the clock struck three. Castiel stretched and worked the kinks out of his neck before putting on his plain tan jacket. A shout made Castiel glanced out the window and frown. He had promised Gabriel a visit but that would mean fighting his way through the crowds all the way across town. For a moment he considered not going. _'Dont be silly, Castiel.' _he thought to himself_. 'No good to just sit inside and waste away.' _Still, he always seemed out of place in a crowd. He considered himself in the mirror. Plain suit with a simple blue tie that some how always managed to hang backwards. But that was him. Plain, simple, and a little bit backwards. He wondered if adding a hat to his wardrobe would make an improvement but decided against it. How vain he would seem walking around with one of his own creations on top of his head?

Castiel locked up the shop and began his journey to the bakery. The town square was more crowded then ever and he found it impossible not to step on a few feet. His cries of "Excuse me!" and "Let me through!" went ignored and Castiel thought it best to save his breath. He resorted to simply shoving his way through which, other then causing him to trip a bit, seemed rather effective.

The shoving and tripping went on for quite a long while and he was almost to the bakery when someone went to take a step back just as Castiel was stepping forward. The culprit hardly noticed that his action caused Castiel to fall forward and slam right into another man.  
"Hey, watch it." The man said turning and putting a hand on Castiel's shoulder to steady him.  
"Sorry. I was uh- . . ." The man was dressed in an impressive suit and was peering down at Castiel with the greenest eyes he had ever seen.  
"You okay?" The man asked in a gruff voice and Castiel could smell the hint of alcohol on his breath.  
Castiel stood straight and fixed his jacket and the man removed his hand. "I apologize for running into you." He said, "I wasn't paying attention."  
"You've got to be more careful." There was a slight slur in the man's voice that Castiel had missed before. "You're going to hurt that pretty face of yours if you don't watch out."  
"Yes, well, I must be on my way." He replied confused. Had this man just called him, pretty?  
"Would you like me to come with you? Stop you from stumbling all the way to where you are going?"  
Castiel shook his head, "No. I believe that in your state the stumbling would only increase." This made the man laugh and Castiel began his fight through the crowd again.

Five minutes later Castiel had made his way to the bakery which was just as busy as the square. Castiel groaned at the thought of trying to find Gabriel in all that but there was no turning back now. He marched up to the shop determined to get in and out as quickly as possible, which might have worked if his coat had not of gotten caught. He turned around and saw that a tall man with a beard wearing a rather large hat had hold of his coat.  
"Excuse me." Castiel said rather annoyed. _'First the drunk and now this. People just lose all sense when it comes to these festivals.'  
_"Long time no see, brother!" The stranger said joyfully letting go of Castiel's coat and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.  
With ease, he lead Castiel further into the shop and Castiel tried to shake him off. "I don't understand." He said furrowing his brow. "Do I know you?"  
The stranger laughed so hard that his hat fell off. "Can't you recognize your own brother? You were always easy to fool, Castiel!" In the next instant Gabriel was standing in the strangers place. Those around them that had witnessed his trick applauded with glee and Gabriel bowed. Castiel sighed he should have known.  
"Gabriel."  
"Castiel." He was smiling cheekily at his younger brother, pleased with his prank. "Lets go in the back, we can talk there." Castiel nodded and followed closely behind so that they wouldn't loose each other in the crowd which was much easier to do now that Gabriel was back to his normal hight.

"You're looking pale, Castiel." Gabriel said. "Not getting out much, are you?" They were in the spacious back storage area where all the dry ingredients were kept. Flour and sugar covered the floor and dusted the well organized selves. The hum of activity from the front could still be heard but it was thankfully quieter and less busy.  
Castiel shrugged and examined one of the flour sacks. "I have been working at the shop at lot lately. It has become very popular recently and I must keep up with all of the orders and requests that are coming in."  
"Yes, so I've heard." Gabriel said arranging some of the spices before turning to look at Castiel. "You always were good with a needle and thread. Who knew you'd be good enough to keep that old sweat shop going."  
"Father gave me that shop, Gabriel. He expected me to take care of it." Castiel had told him this numerous times but Gabriel refused to listen. As the oldest, Gabriel was expected to seek and gain his fortune while Castiel, the youngest, was expected never to rise above his brother's success. Gabriel however, thought this was a rather old backwards way to think.  
Gabriel sighed. "You can't lock yourself up in dad's office and work yourself until you're a crippled old man with a bad back. That's not what Dad wanted. Do something for yourself, why don't you?"  
"I didn't come here to fight, Gabriel." Castiel sighed  
Gabriel seemed to consider this for a second before saying, "Dad wanted the shop to go under."  
Castiel looked at his brother in surprise. "What?"  
Gabriel sighed like it was obvious and only oblivious, naïve Castiel had missed it. "Dad didn't give the shop to you because he wanted you to save it. He wanted it to go were suppose to make sure it did with dignity, whatever that means."  
"How was I suppose to know that?" Castiel asked a bit bewildered. "What did he expect me to do once it went under?"  
Gabriel laughed. "You still don't get it, do you? He wanted you to take the money and, how would you put it? 'Seek your fortune'." Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I don't know why you keep insisting that dad stuck you in that retired hat shop for the rest of your life."  
Castiel clenched his hands into fists. "Why didn't he tell me this himself?"  
"Come on, Castiel." He scoffed. "You know how Dad was. He wanted you to figure it out yourself. It didn't occur to him that you were so incredibly thick."  
"I need to go. I have some things to think through." This was all too much for him to think about right then. He needed to go home where he could be alone with his thoughts. Castiel pushed past Gabriel and made his way back toward the main shop area.

"Oh! One more thing, little brother."  
Castiel paused and turned back around to face his smirking brother.  
"I ran into a rather strange character the other day. She didn't take too fondly to me. None what so ever, in fact."  
"What are you talking about, Gabriel?" Castiel was growing impatient.  
"The Witch of the Waste, do you know of her?" He asked mischievously knowing that it would get his attention.  
"Yes." He said a bit curious now. "What about her?"  
"I may have accidentally insulted her."  
Castiel was stunned. Out of the most outlandish and atrocious things his brother had ever done, this had to be the most thoughtless irrational things he could have ever done."You did what!?"  
"She was really quite furious, too!" Gabriel went on rather pleased with himself. "I couldn't help myself, I saw her and thought well why not have a bit of fun?"  
Castiel stared at his beaming brother. What had he gotten himself into, now! This was a dark magical being he had angered. Surly he knew there would be a punishment.  
"Oh, and I may have looked like you when I did it."  
"You-I-what?!" Castiel was outraged. His brother had just thrown him into the fire and hadn't even had the decency to even ask first. _'If the witch finds out that wasn't me the punishment will be even worse. _"Have you any idea what you have done!?" He roared.  
Gabriel chuckled, "Toodles." And with that he disappeared.  
Castiel turned and looked through the crowd but it was no use; Gabriel was disguised again. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. What was he suppose to do now? He had to make a decision about the shop and now a witch was after him. This really wasn't as pleasant of a visit as he thought it was going to be.

Once he had finally made it to his small living quarters behind the shop, Castiel found it impossible to think straight. His father had wanted the hat shop to end but now that it was successful he couldn't just leave it. But it was only time before the witch found him and made that all go away. Maybe he would leave. Just walk out the door and never look back. The witch was inevitable, and powerful. Could he persuade her? Fight her even? Castiel paced as he thought but it didn't help calm him, nor did the cooling mug of tea, or the half bottle of whiskey he had drank. He itched to do _something_! What he wanted to do was to go back and teach Gabriel a lesson but that never did any good. '_Why couldn't he had just told me from the start what Father had wanted?' _Castiel thought bitterly._ 'Why does he find it entertaining to frustrate me! Why did he have to shift into me when he insulted the witch?' _He rubbed a hand across his face and looked around for something to do but there was nothing.

"No reason to stay in here then." Castiel went back to the shop deciding that he might as well get some work done. He gathered the finished hats from his office and began to distribute them around the shop as he muttered to himself unhappily.  
"What a tacky shop."  
Castiel stopped in his tracts and slowly turned around. A severe woman in a business suite stood in the door way looking extremely irritated. Something Castiel could relate to. He was in no mood to deal with a sour customer after hours, especially one who thought his father's shop was "tacky".  
"We are closed for the night. You are going to have to leave now." It came out more rude than he had meant it to but he didn't care. He just wanted her to leave.  
The woman turned her sharp eyes onto him. "Aren't you plucky. I would think that you would be more incline to hold your tongue in front of the Witch of the Waste after our last meeting."  
"The Witch of the Waste? Wait, I can explain. That wasn't-" A sudden gust of wind blew through the shop hitting him full in the chest.  
"There." The witch said sounding satisfied. "Maybe that will teach you to call someone a biddy old gargoyle." Castiel lowered his arms that were shielding his face. The witch was smiling and although he was certain that the wind had come from her direction, not a hair had fallen out of her tight bun. "Have a nice night." She purred and with that she turned and left.


End file.
